Percentage of public and private high school graduates earning minimum credits in selected combinations of academic courses, by sex and race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1982 through 2005

Year of graduation and course combination taken1

All students

Sex

Race/ethnicity

Male

Female

White

Black

Hispanic

Asian/Pacific Islander

American Indian/Alaska Native

Other

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1982 graduates

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, .5 Comp, and 2 FL2

2.0

(0.22)

2.3

(0.31)

1.8

(0.27)

2.4

(0.28)

0.7

(0.28)

0.6

(0.22)

5.8

(1.72)

1.1

(0.77)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, and 2 FL

9.5

(0.57)

9.1

(0.70)

9.9

(0.71)

10.9

(0.69)

5.2

(1.02)

3.9

(0.57)

17.0

(2.49)

3.3

(1.68)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math

14.3

(0.66)

15.2

(0.86)

13.4

(0.79)

15.9

(0.79)

11.0

(1.39)

6.7

(0.79)

21.1

(2.65)

8.1

(3.02)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math

31.5

(1.07)

31.7

(1.26)

31.3

(1.22)

32.4

(1.21)

30.8

(2.32)

25.6

(1.76)

32.0

(3.40)

23.6

(5.39)

—

(†)

1987 graduates

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, .5 Comp, and 2 FL2

10.6

(0.73)

11.5

(1.01)

9.8

(0.65)

11.3

(0.97)

6.6

(0.91)

5.5

(1.03)

20.5

(2.57)

2.5

(0.86)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, and 2 FL

18.1

(0.91)

18.0

(1.13)

18.3

(1.01)

19.0

(1.10)

12.7

(1.15)

10.8

(1.70)

35.7

(4.49)

4.9

(1.40)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math

24.8

(1.03)

25.9

(1.27)

23.7

(1.07)

26.1

(1.21)

19.6

(1.99)

14.5

(1.69)

39.8

(4.51)

24.3

(3.69)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math

48.1

(1.74)

48.0

(2.22)

48.4

(1.56)

48.1

(2.15)

48.3

(2.63)

43.9

(1.92)

57.9

(4.82)

61.8

(5.56)

—

(†)

1990 graduates

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, .5 Comp, and 2 FL2

18.0

(1.06)

17.8

(1.16)

18.2

(1.09)

18.6

(1.21)

15.1

(1.66)

17.8

(2.42)

23.3

(2.23)

7.8

(3.33)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, and 2 FL

29.9

(1.26)

28.8

(1.38)

31.0

(1.36)

31.7

(1.46)

22.9

(2.27)

25.4

(2.41)

42.6

(2.95)

9.9

(3.70)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math

38.2

(1.50)

38.5

(1.69)

37.9

(1.54)

39.2

(1.63)

39.0

(3.57)

29.8

(2.51)

47.4

(3.04)

19.2

(4.70)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math

65.5

(1.96)

64.3

(2.09)

66.4

(1.98)

64.9

(2.28)

71.3

(3.00)

63.7

(3.01)

69.1

(3.90)

46.3

(6.39)

—

(†)

1994 graduates

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, .5 Comp, and 2 FL2

25.1

(1.05)

23.4

(0.93)

26.8

(1.32)

26.4

(1.19)

19.0

(1.45)

27.1

(3.75)

35.5

(2.84)

12.9

(3.09)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, and 2 FL

39.0

(1.12)

35.0

(1.11)

42.7

(1.33)

41.6

(1.32)

29.6

(1.52)

35.6

(2.94)

50.1

(2.39)

22.5

(4.31)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math

49.3

(1.45)

47.0

(1.45)

51.5

(1.58)

52.4

(1.67)

43.7

(2.39)

40.3

(3.25)

54.9

(2.46)

46.0

(3.30)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math

73.9

(1.50)

71.2

(1.63)

76.4

(1.46)

75.1

(1.69)

74.5

(2.32)

74.7

(2.61)

72.3

(3.62)

76.3

(3.60)

—

(†)

1998 graduates

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, .5 Comp, and 2 FL2

28.6

(1.72)

27.6

(2.12)

30.1

(1.90)

29.6

(1.99)

27.9

(3.36)

20.4

(2.44)

38.6

(4.61)

16.5

(4.65)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, and 2 FL

44.2

(1.92)

40.5

(2.19)

48.2

(2.05)

46.2

(2.16)

40.0

(3.41)

32.0

(2.94)

57.8

(4.51)

28.3

(4.53)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math

55.0

(2.44)

52.9

(2.64)

57.8

(2.48)

56.8

(2.69)

55.6

(4.39)

40.0

(3.28)

66.1

(5.69)

40.0

(4.73)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math

74.5

(2.18)

72.8

(2.34)

77.0

(2.14)

74.7

(2.64)

76.0

(3.21)

70.1

(2.57)

79.5

(4.76)

76.4

(5.21)

—

(†)

2000 graduates

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, .5 Comp, and 2 FL2

31.0

(1.53)

28.6

(1.59)

33.2

(1.73)

31.5

(1.55)

28.9

(1.65)

28.4

(5.50)

37.8

(5.45)

16.2

(2.69)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, and 2 FL

46.5

(1.46)

40.3

(1.59)

52.1

(1.60)

47.8

(1.56)

44.2

(2.14)

38.4

(5.05)

56.5

(3.13)

25.6

(3.40)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math

57.2

(1.58)

52.9

(1.65)

61.1

(1.70)

58.1

(1.70)

62.4

(2.44)

46.4

(5.46)

61.1

(3.11)

40.9

(5.56)

—

(†)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math

77.6

(1.58)

74.2

(1.86)

80.6

(1.44)

77.9

(1.84)

81.2

(2.23)

74.1

(3.24)

74.5

(3.05)

71.2

(4.44)

—

(†)

2005 graduates

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, .5 Comp, and 2 FL2

36.2

(1.00)

34.6

(0.97)

37.7

(1.23)

35.8

(1.22)

39.9

(1.72)

33.0

(1.86)

42.9

(2.34)

24.5

(3.48)

36.8

(5.09)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math, and 2 FL

52.1

(1.00)

46.8

(1.16)

57.2

(1.01)

53.3

(1.20)

51.4

(1.88)

41.8

(2.07)

63.6

(2.19)

36.2

(3.40)

65.7

(3.12)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math

64.7

(1.07)

61.1

(1.26)

68.0

(0.99)

65.9

(1.32)

69.6

(1.83)

49.8

(2.29)

69.1

(2.20)

59.3

(3.30)

72.4

(3.44)

4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math

81.8

(1.02)

79.2

(1.18)

84.3

(0.97)

81.2

(1.33)

88.7

(0.93)

77.2

(1.33)

83.7

(1.72)

81.0

(3.18)

87.2

(2.71)

— Not available.
† Not applicable. 1 Eng = English; SS = social studies; Sci = science; Comp = computer science; and FL = foreign language. 2 The National Commission on Excellence in Education recommended that all college-bound high school students take these courses as a minimum.
NOTE: Data differ slightly from figures appearing in other NCES reports because of differences in taxonomies and case exclusion criteria. Race categories exclude persons of His­panic origin. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, High School and Beyond Longitudinal Study of 1980 Sophomores (HS&B-So:80/82), "High School Transcript Study"; and 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2000, and 2005 High School Transcript Study (HSTS). (This table was prepared January 2007.)